Cheers for uploading the shots. Interesting to see how my plants will mature. That said, the division from which my plant came was very tight at the base compared to the canopy. I remember because I remember disliking the habit. And then I was offered the division.

Now over to the id forum to post a new shoot in my (so-called) Dulcis thread!

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Boohoo?

Great tread.

Applause to all the effort here to educate us all. Like stated already, Bamboo is confusing and very difficult to identify sometimes.

Oh might I add, very addictive also!!

Thanks for sharing everyone


Kailey in Comox

This year's shoots. For something that doesn't move, bamboo isn't the easiest subject to photograph, is it? You have to do a little dance.

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Boohoo?

This made me think how unreliable colours can be for identifying clump-forming mountain bamboo species, or selecting good ones to grow. Growing in different climates and different microclimates, the combined effects of sun and cold can make an enormous difference.

Being a botanist I look for characters that are consistent, whatever the colour. Just for fun I thought I would do a comparison of the culm sheath hairs (from both the mid-culm and the base of the culm) to distinguish between 3 tricky species, Fargesia robusta, F. dracocephala, and F. apicirubens. I assume we all know that the thin leaves of nitida/demissa/Jiu distinguish those, while the completely hairless strongly asymmetrical culm sheaths of murielae can be used to recognize them.

And of course we know that the Borinda species are distinguished by the (nearly always) ribbed culm internodes and various other characters, and accept that they are more closely related to Yushania than Fargesia, having open flowers like a grass panicle, not those distinctive toothbrush-like flowers of Fargesia.

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Chris
SE England
bamboo-identification.co.uk

Think globally, act locally

I've been enjoying reading this thread as I learn more about Fargesia as a whole.

Not to derail this thread, but Chris, I've been reading on your website a lot in the last few days, and I was wondering if there is any specific information for 'jiuzhaigou' buried somewhere I may have missed?

I don't have nitida and jiu to compare, so I wonder if the soft, downy appearance on the leaves of demissa is a distinguishing characteristic. It must have minute hairs that are not visible to the eye. After rain pools of water can be seen collected on the leaves.

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Boohoo?